MCA issued a notification for the purpose of amending the companies rules and Relaxation on levy of additional fees in filing of e-forms

1. Amendment of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had on the 11^th day of February 2022 issued a notification for the purpose of amending the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 (“Rules”) in the following manner:-

Under the Rules, rule 12, which deals with the filing of financial statements and fees, sub-rule (1) further states that “Every company shall file the financial statements with Registrar together with Form AOC-4.”

In the said sub-rule 12(1), after sub-rule (IA), a new sub-rule (1B) has been inserted which directs every company covered under the provisions of sub-section (1) to section 135 (Corporate Social Responsibility/ CSR) to furnish a report on CSR in Form CSR-2 to the Registrar for the preceding financial year (2020-2021) and onwards as an addendum to Form AOC-4 or AOC-4 XBRL or AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS), as the case may be:

Provided that for the preceding financial year (2020-2021), Form CSR-2 shall be filed separately on or before 31^st March 2022, after filing Form AOC-4 or AOC-4 XBRL or AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS), as the case may be."

The said rules shall be effective from the date of its publication i.e. 11^th day of February 2022.

The Complete text of the Notification may be viewed at the below link:

https://bit.ly/3Jz5V9q

2. Relaxation on levy of additional fees in the filing of e-forms:-

Upon receipt of several references and representations from the stakeholders, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had on 29^th December 2021 issued a General Circular No. 22/2021 for the purpose of providing relaxation in the payment of additional fees up to 15^th February 2022 for the filing of e-forms AOC-4, AOC-4 (CFS), AOC-4 XBRL, AOC-4, Non-XBRL and up to 28^th February 2022 for filing of e-forms MGT-7/MGT-7A for the financial year ending on 31^st March 2021.

In continuation to the above-mentioned circular, MCA issued General Circular No. 01/2022 on 14^th February 2022 to provide further relaxation in the payment of additional fees up to 15^th March 2022 for the filing of the above-mentioned e-forms and up to 31^st March 2022 for filing of e-forms MGT-7/MGT-7A for the financial year ending on 31^st March 2021 respectively.

During this extended period, only normal fees shall be payable for the filing of the aforementioned e-forms

The Complete text of the General Circular may be viewed at the below link:

Last updated: 21/02/2022

Article contributed by:

Syed Arsalan Ahmed

Associate - Legal

MBG Corporate Services